


Maybe it was you…

by Justsomeone99



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, M/M, Not Beta Read, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, english is not my first language, feel free to skip the first two chapters, just once but I think is important to mention it, the first two chapter has no dialogue
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-15 03:46:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28806783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Justsomeone99/pseuds/Justsomeone99
Summary: When Qrow was thirteen he burnt his soul mark without even checking the name that was written on his wrist.When Clover met his soulmate, he was shocked because he had just arrested him and anxious because Why hadn’t Qrow say anything? Was Clover not the soulmate of his soulmate? That couldn’t be happening.
Relationships: Minor or Background Relationship(s), Qrow Branwen/Clover Ebi
Comments: 20
Kudos: 54





	1. Prologue 1

**Author's Note:**

> This idea has been around me for a long time, so here is my attempt to write it.  
> This is the first of two prologues (next one will be Clover's history), feel free to skip it! Their interactions will start on chapter three.

#  _Prologue 1_

Qrow Branwen made the worst decision of his life at the age of thirteen. The day started just fine, it was his birthday after all, well his and Raven’s and his sister had made her mission to annoy him all day. It happened so fast, he was mad and Raven was bragging about something, he couldn’t even remember what it was, she was walking on the edge of a cliff, he was angry at her and suddenly he felt it, his semblance was getting out of control and… Raven slipped, and he knew that would never had happened if his semblance hadn’t interfered, she fell and he heard her scream and he saw her in pain, he panicked and ran, wanting to get as far away as possible from his sister, he hadn’t wanted to hurt her but that was his curse, his bad luck was always going to get in the way. 

He managed to get someone to check on his sister while he stayed alone, scared and full of guilt… his soul mark couldn’t choose a worse moment to appear, when he felt the skin inside his wrist burn, he got terrified, he had just unintentionally hurt his sister, he was always going to hurt the people he cared about, it was his fate after all, his semblance was bad luck, everyone around him was in danger. He didn’t think twice, he took a fire dust and crushed it against his right wrist, his aura tried to block the damage, but he kept pressing until he felt the pain and the burnt, he kept pressing until he passed out.

His sister found him, she shacked him until he regained consciousness, when he opened his eyes, he saw her disappointed look, they didn’t talk about it. He noticed that now she was wearing black fingerless gloves hiding her own soul mark, it was a common practice in Remnant after all, hiding the soul marks because it was considered something intimate and private, some used long sleeves others gloves or wristbands, it was very unusual seeing someone wrist uncovered. 

Everyone in the Branwen Tribe knew what he had done, so Qrow didn’t bother covering his burnt wrist, but the last day before they left to Beacon Academy Raven took a wristband from her clothes and threw it to him. Qrow looked at his wrist, the burnt was already cicatrized, he put the wristband and tried to convince himself that he had made the right decision. 

Beacon changed him, for the first time in forever he wished he knew what had been the name in his wrist, he kind of wished it was Summer’s but judging the way he kept looking at Taiyang it probably wasn’t. When he was first assigned into team STRQ he couldn’t care less, after some time he got attached to his teammates, even his relationship with his twin improved a little, but like everything in his life it didn’t end well. 

At the beginning of their second year, Raven confessed that Taiyang was her soulmate and he said she was his soulmate too, everything seemed fine, until two days later Qrow found Summer crying in their room, she told him that she also had Taiynag’s name in her wrist which was extremely uncommon but not impossible, sometimes fate got twisted and a person could end not being the soulmate of their soulmate. Qrow tried his best to comfort her and at the same time he kept wondering if maybe this mess was his fault, have he not burnt his own mark maybe Summer would have ended with his name instead of Tai’s. He knew deep down that didn’t matter, even if he didn’t know the name in his wrist, burnt it didn’t change anything, he still had a soulmate somewhere out there, someone unlucky enough to be stuck with his name permanently written on their skin. 

After Ozpin recruited Qrow and his sister, he had more chances of meeting his soulmate, he wasn’t actively searching but he knew that with all the travels he did and all the people he met it was just a matter of time… he kept wondering if he actually wanted to meet his soulmate, he didn’t even know their name, he had chosen to protect them from himself even before getting a chance to know them and every time his semblance got out of control and someone ended hurt or worse he knew he had made the right choice, he just hopped that his soulmate was somewhere far away, he hoped they found someone else and were happy.

Raven left and everybody was shocked, for Qrow it wasn’t entirely unexpected but even if he had thought that Raven could possibly end up leaving, he never consider she would do it so unexpectedly, little Yang barely understood what has happening, why her mother wasn’t around anymore. A year after that some kind of miracle happen, Tai called him, he sounded stressed and worried and asked him to come over, Qrow thought that maybe something had happened to Yang or Summer (she and Tai had started going out some time after Raven left). But he had nothing to worry about, Tai had called because his soul mark had changed, now inside his wrist Summer Rose was beautifully written. After reassuring Tai that didn’t meant he had never love Raven, and convincing Summer that she was replacing Raven, Qrow left the mesmerized couple. And for the first time in a while Qrow held hope, hope that his soulmate could find someone else to connect, a new soulmate, someone that wasn’t cursed as he was. 

Summer died and Taiyang was devastated, Qrow knew that soulmates were connected in a special way, and losing one was supposed to be the worst thing ever, he thought that people was exaggerating, but seeing Taiyang so broken and sad made him rethink that. He helped in any way he could, he even started giving classes in Signal, in order to stay close to Tai and his nieces.

When Yang turned thirteen, she got her soul mark while he was training with her at Signal, she looked at the name, said ‘Cool´, cover it with her black fingerless gloves and continue fighting, he was so glad that for her it wasn’t such a big deal. But when Ruby got her soul mark, she called extremely excited claiming she had the most awesome soul mark in the entirely world, inside her wrist a series of 0 and 1 were written, they were so many that circled her wrist a couple of times, Taiyang was worried and confused, Qrow just congratulated Ruby and told her that her soulmate must be someone really special. 

Beacon fell, Ruby lost her soulmate and Yang lost her arm and her soulmate. Qrow understood Blake, he had passed all his life worrying about hurting his soulmate and now she thought that Yang had gotten hurt because of her but even if he understood the young faunus he still got angry and wished she had decided to stay for Yang’s sake. Qrow promised Taiyang to look after Ruby when she left, he wondered why she didn’t look as sad and hurt like Tai had looked, after he officially joined her traveling group Ruby explained that she didn’t felt like she had lost Penny, that she could still feel her, and that she had hope that they would meet again. 

Talking to Raven again felt strange, they had grown apart but he still cared about her, she was his twin after all, Raven showed him her wrist, it was blank, Qrow hadn’t know that was possible, she told him it had happen a couple of days after she left. He had never wanted to be anything like his sister until that moment, if he lost his soulmark he wouldn’t have to worry of bringing misfortune to his soulmate because he wouldn’t have a soulmate... but at the same time the thought made him sad, he knew that even if he was scared and full of self-loathe sometimes, he daydreamed about meeting his soulmate, someone that was supposed to be perfect for him, someone with whom he could be himself without worries.

Qrow drowned himself in alcohol after learning the truth, he felt stupid and used, he blamed his bad luck for what had happened and then he blamed Ozpin for hiding the truth, he blamed the gods for their stupid decisions, he blamed everything and everyone. He eventually had a reality check from his niece no less and managed to get himself together, not perfectly but enough to help them stole an atlas airship. 

They got to Mantle and a lot of thing happened really fast, first a bunch of Grimm attacked, second Ruby’s soulmate appeared out of nowhere, said hello had to go and third they got arrested by the Ace Ops. Qrow tried to talk with the one he was closest too, but the only think he got was a bunch of phrases that had word ‘unauthorized’ too many times. He didn’t even know the guy but he disliked him already.


	2. Prologue 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The history of Clover in Atlas, from receiving his soul mark and making peace with his semblance to arresting his soulmate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can’t believe I finished this chapter so fast, don’t get used to tho, I have one hell of a week coming.

#  _Prologue 2_

When Clover was little, he didn’t understand why people covered their marks, he saw the way his parents looked at each other, the love and caring that fluctuated between them, how when they believed no one was looking they took their bracelets and traced slowly their name in each other wrist. He eventually asked and his parents had to explain that there were bad people in the world that took advantage of the information and used a person’s soulmate to hurt them, that is why people cover their marks, to protect their soulmates. 

Clover was fishing with his family when his soul mark appeared, it happened really uneventful, one second he was waiting for some fish to be unfortunate enough to catch the bait, the next one he was doing exactly the same but with the slight addition that now he had a name written inside his left wrist, he looked at the black ink that traced his skin _Qrow Branwen_ said he took a few moment to appreciate the name, before getting the gloves he was gifted earlier for his birthday to cover the mark. 

It took Clover a whole year to realize that Branwen wasn’t exactly a common last name, he had met a lot of people in Atlas but no one with that last name, after a secret search he had come to the conclusion that his soulmate wasn’t from Atlas, they could be anywhere in Remnant, which honestly Clover hadn’t expected it, he thought that maybe his semblance would have an effect in his connection with his soulmate and they would be able to meet fast, but apparently destiny had other plans. 

Having a good fortune semblance was a blessing and a curse Clover quickly learned when he entered Atlas Academy, it made his life easier when he used and at the same time, he always seemed to have to prove himself in Atlas demonstrating that he was actually a top student because of his abilities not his semblance some people even said mean things like his soulmate would be whomever he wanted, because his semblance could change the names written inside their wrist. 

The first time Clover saw his soulmate was behind a giant screen. Vytal Festival was being held in Atlas and teams from the other kingdoms had come to fight. Clover’s team hasn’t been selected to represent their academy so he was just another spectator of the tournament, he was enjoying the fights, a lot had been really tied and had involved last minute decision from the team leaders to achieve victory. The announcement of the next fight appeared, Atlas against a Vale, Team RFMJ vs Team STRQ, the members from Beacon seemed confident, the match started, like all the others at first it looked really tied, but at the end a portal appeared out of nowhere transporting one member of team STRQ next to her teammate to strike a decisive blow against team RFMJ. The commentators were giving their thoughts about the match, and they said something about the _Branwen twins_ , he couldn’t help it, he froze, that was his soulmate’s last name, a moment after the screen showed the image of a black-haired boy with the words ‘injured in combat’ below it… Clover couldn’t believe it he checked quickly the name of the boy in the information about the team and he stared at the name for a long time.

During the Vytal Festival Clover tried to somehow talk to Qrow, he regrated his team wasn’t participating in the tournament, maybe if his soulmate saw his name on screen, he would try to find him too, he even used his semblance when he searched but surprisingly, he didn’t have any luck, the Festival ended, and the teams returned to their respective kingdoms, he had missed his change. He felt sad, he had been so close, he spent the next few days planning what was he going to do about it. At the end he discovered he couldn’t do much, travelling to other kingdoms was either expensive or dangerous and even if he had good look by his side, he couldn’t go alone, he would have to wait until fate brought them together again or he had the means to travel to Vale. 

The day of his graduation Robin approached Clover, she was a year younger than him and he had talked to her in hopes of finding something about Qrow, but she didn’t know anything, only that her team has lost against his team, they become kind of friends after that. She was a year younger than him, so when he graduated, she came to congratulate him and told him to ignore all the stuff people said about him, that semblances didn’t define them, he told her not to worry about him, that he was fine, they shacked hands and he was pretty sure that he saw some red light emanate from her forearm, he was fooling no one. 

Clover joined Atlas military, there he met Harriet, she was the same rank that he was and her semblance was quite useful in the feel, she didn’t seem to care about Clover’s semblance she even joked about it, saying stuff about how he should use it to get them the best meals in the cafeteria. They couldn’t always talk, but when they did Clover felt at ease, he didn’t have to worry about saying something related to good luck, he hadn’t realized that he had stopped talking to people because of the looks he get if something good had happen to him even if something bad had happen, every conversation always ended up in someway or another being about his semblance, except with Harriet.

After many years of serving the military Ironwood recruited Clover for the Ace Operatives and he felt so glad when he heard that Harriet had also be recruited, that didn’t stop the rumors that they had only get in the elite group because of his good fortune, by that time, Clover had already learnt to ignore all those people, he knew he was good for his abilities. But one day, he got somehow insecure and asked General Ironwood if he had been chosen because of his semblance but the General told him that semblances never played a big role in elite operators, he even told him that if that was the case and excellent even it quite strange huntsman would have never been one of Ozpin’s must trusted men. 

All the Ace Ops were present when Pietro Polendina turned on Penny, Clover was shocked when the robot girl opened her eyes and looked at everyone, they all got in defensive positions when Penny’s arm started to emit smoke thinking it was a malfunction of some sort, no one could believe when she approached her father and displayed her arm, she had a soul mark, it seemed like a miracle but General Ironwood ordered Dr. Polendina to hide the mark, which Clover could swore made Penny sad.

Penny’s incident made Clover thought about his soulmate again, he hadn’t thought about him in a while, he wondered if he was okay. He confided Elm about his soulmate, he wasn’t sure why, they weren’t supposed to be friends, but he needed one at the moment and for some reason he didn’t want to tell Harriet. Elm told him that he should be patient that someday he would go the change to find his soulmate and that if he had finished moping, they totally should go mess with Vine, they laughed and went to do just that, not before she assured him that if he ever wanted to talk more, she knew where to find him. 

When Vytal Festival was being held in Vale, for the first time in years Clover thought of going, he had never got the change to go because of his work in the military, but somehow that year he got the time, he might have used his semblance to clear his schedule but he wasn’t hurting anyone with that, over the years he learned to make peace with his good fortune, using it in the file and occasionally for making his or someone else´s life a little bit better, nothing to extravagant. He was ready to go to Vale, he didn’t think General Ironwood would forbid him but he did, saying that in his absence Atlas needed the Ace Ops. 

Clover spent the Vytal Festival training Marrow, he was new and was replacing a former teammate. He liked the guy; he was excited to be in the team and still held that joy from young life… Clover hadn’t realized he started feeling kind of old. They didn’t hear the news about Beacon until weeks after the incident, when Atlas ships returned without the robot army, including Penny. 

The fall of Beacon hunted atlas for weeks, General Ironwood started making plans and told them about Salem, one thing was knowing that the world was at constant danger because of the Grimm it was complexly different knowing the world was at danger because some crazy powerful lady held hatred against humanity and planned to destroy it. They spent two years preparing for the unavoidable fight. 

It started like a normal day, they got the alert of a Grimm attack in Mantle but before Clover could go to Ironwood to ask him if they should go down there, he received the alert that the Ace Ops were needed immediately, because an unauthorized ship had landed full of armed people that were battling in Mantle. The Ace Ops saw Penny interact with one of the girls from the group, she looked really happy as if she knew them, then an alarm went off and she left, Clover instructed his team to strike.  
After loading the prisoners in the transport, Clover got on the manta that was going to return the Ace Ops to Atlas, he was checking the information about the people they just arrested, he recognized some names that Ironwood had mention before, he felt his heart beat faster when he reached the last name of the captives, he couldn’t believe he hadn’t recognized the angry man. Then it dawned on him… Had he really just arrested his soulmate?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hesitated when I wrote the Vytal Festival in Atlas but I decided to stick with the original idea before I start overthinking everything and not writing anything. Hope you like it :3  
> Also I had nothing against Harriet, I only wanted to inclued the other Ace Ops somehow DX
> 
> Next chapter finally will have some dialogue! And the interacions will begin! 
> 
> Kudos and comments are so much appreciated, they make my day for real.


	3. First meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clover and Qrow get introduced and the Ace Op needs to figure out what he is going to do about Qrow’s lack of response.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got stuck in this chapter for two reasons, one was finals and the other one is that I started to obsess with the dialogues, I watched the Ace Ops episode like three times and at the end I decided to write what I remembered instead of the exact dialogues (I hope you don’t mind), because if I continue like that I was never going to finish.

#  _First meeting_

Clover had spent all his life with a name written inside his wrist and he never thought that the first time he would meet that person was going to be with him arresting him. He couldn’t believe the name on the screen, and he totally wasn’t panicking, he just had a very high level of distress. He tried to calm and thought what was he supposed to do now.

“Ah, Boss?” Marrow called. He was so focused on the screen in front of him that he forgot he wasn’t alone in the manta.  
“Yeah?”  
“Are… are you okay?” The youngest member of the team asked and Clover looked at him confused, Marrow was waving his scroll that showed some kind of game, at first, he didn’t understand how that was related to his own wellbeing until he noticed that even if the faunus was actively not paying attention to the game he was still winning. 

Maybe Clover was panicking, an incident like that hadn’t happen to him since his first days on the academy. He focused and in a matter of seconds the scroll showed the ‘game over’ sign. Meanwhile Elm had taken advantage of his distraction and had taken his own scroll and was now laughing. He looked at her with mean eyes, but that didn’t stop her. He just hoped Elm wouldn’t tell anyone the motive of his distress. 

When they arrived at Atlas, they were informed that the prisoners had been released by orders of Ironwood and now were in a meeting with him. They were also requested to apologize to team RWBY and company. After the Ace Ops apologize, the children left with Penny, she seemed really excited and the girl with the red hood, Ruby, seemed like she couldn’t believe her friend was standing right in front of her again. 

Clover stayed behind hoping to talk with Qrow, he was about to approach him when Ironwood beat him, he hadn’t known that the General and the huntsman were close. He felt like he was intruding when they hugged. 

“Clover, come here for a second” He hadn’t realized that both men had stopped hugging and now were looking at him.  
“James please, I’m tired and should probably check on the kids” Qrow said and Clover do what was in his power to not show the shock he felt when he heard the huntsman referred to the General by his first name.  
“Nonsense Qrow, you need to meet him sooner or later. This is the leader of the Ace Ops.” The way Ironwood was speaking was something new, he seemed relaxed and maybe even hopeful.  
“Clover Ebi” He said and extended his hand to Qrow.  
“I would introduce myself but you probably know who I am” Clover’s heart skipped a beat “Since you arrest me and all”.

They shacked hands and Qrow left. Clover stood there stunned, that was not what he was expecting, he didn’t even have some kind of fantasy or something of how would it be to meet his soulmate, but, a lame joke and a shake of hands with no sign of recognition by Qrow’s wasn’t at all what he thought it would happen. 

A sudden flash of electricity took him out of his reflections.

“You know you were supposed to be in the headquarters for today’s debrief like five minutes ago, it’s not like you to be late” Harriet said, she looked worried about him.  
“Have you meet your soulmate?” He asked and started to walk toward the headquarters.  
“No. Why?”  
“If you meet them how do you think they react?” He knew that Harriet would quickly figure it out why was he asking her this.  
“I haven’t really thought about but I think they would probably be, I don’t know, shocked? How did _your_ soulmate _react_?”  
“He didn’t” Harriet looked at him a soon as the words left his mouth, her eyes were comically open, she patted his back as if saying ‘I’m sorry about that’.

Clover seriously didn’t want to thought about the implications of Qrow’s lack of response, he knew it could only mean two things, that he wasn’t the soulmate of his soulmate or that the other didn’t have a soul mark and he couldn’t decide which one was worse. 

That night Clover stayed awake, staring at the name inside his wrist. He needed to plan something, he could try a direct approach, simply telling him, it would definitely be the easiest way of finding out exactly what was going on, but he didn’t know Qrow, and dropping such news on a stranger didn’t seem like the smartest idea. Maybe he could do some recon first, getting to know the other man better, like his name wasn’t forever imprinted on his skin. 

Thanks to Ironwood’s plan his side goal would be very easy to accomplish. The next morning after they arrived, they got their first mission, dealing with a grimm inside a mine. But even with a selfish goal in mind, the mission came first. Clover was busy debriefing everyone about the situation that only when they got inside the manta, he realized he and Qrow were in the same team, a suggestion by the General that had passed more like an order.

“I’m not quite used to working with someone else” Qrow started.  
“Weren’t you in a team before?” Clover remembered that one time in Vital Festival, the first time he put a face to the name of his soulmate, the giant announcement, that a member of STRQ had been injured in combat and some changes would been made in the next rounds.  
“Yeah… found out I work better alone” It sounded like there was quite a story behind that statement. 

Clover thought of disagreeing, but then he would have to explain why he thought that and he wasn’t sure he could come with something quickly. Fortunately, he was saved of giving any kind of response when Qrow slipped on the ice and almost fell. He grimaced thinking that maybe his semblance had got wild and helped him somehow, it didn’t go unnoticed that the other huntsman did the same, but something told Clover that it probably wasn’t because a hurt pride.

The target appeared and all of Clover’s focus was in stopping it, before it could cause more damage and fatalities, he took out his fishing road and tried to stop the grimm but stopped when he heard his partner shout. The grimm fell and he reported his last location.

“Thanks”  
“I wouldn’t be thanking me” And well wasn’t that something interesting? Clover looked at Qrow waiting for an explanation “My semblance brings misfortune and sometimes I can’t keep it under control”. 

It was obvious that Qrow struggle with that and Clover understood, like really understood. He realized that them being together was probably something that the General had planned from the beginning, opposite semblances, it really sounded like an experiment would their semablances cancel each other out? Or maybe they would intensify? He noticed that Qrow was getting lost in whatever bad feelings talking about his semblance seemed to bring so he stood up.

“Well… my semblance is good fortune. Lucky you, eh?” 

Clover totally hadn’t planned the last part to sound flirtatious but it did. He turned around to avoid looking at his soulmate’s face. And it surely wasn’t part of the plan to show off a little bit in combat, never irresponsibly though and totally worth it seeing that half smile in the other huntsman. 

On the ride back to Atlas Clover was redacting his report, when Elm approached. 

“So… how it went?” She had a smile that adverted danger.  
“You were there Elm, you know how it went” He knew he had no escape, but he was going to try.  
“Yeah sure, we neutralized the target _and_ show off a little to the new ones, didn’t we?” She seemed to be holding a laugh and her smile grow exponentially. He smiled a little too, but it fell quickly.  
“He… he didn’t react when I told him my name the other day”  
“What!? No, that can’t be right. Maybe he didn’t hear right and that’s why… Clover there is no possible way… There must be an explanation” Hearing Elm rambling about the subject made him feel like less bad about his own denial “We would get to the bottom of this, I promise”  
“We?”  
“Yes, you and me, and probably Harriet and Vine, you should totally tell them… I don’t know about Marrow; but he certainly will get sad if he found out we are having a secret Ace Ops mission without him” Elm enthusiasm and certainty was contagious, but he needed to stop her before she became too serious.  
“There is no secret mission happening” He ordered.  
“Oh, it totally is, boss” Elm said before jumping off the manta before it landed. 

Clover knew Elm wouldn’t proceed with her plan, probably, hopefully. He needed to rethink his plan, because even if he had only known Qrow for a couple of days, he could feel it, the unusual pull that drove him to other man, and he wasn’t sure if that was because of the name in his wrist or because Qrow was a good man, caring about all the kids and stuff. There was something clear though, his soulmate seemed to be struggling and he wanted to help. 

The mantas landed and Clover thought about finding Qrow so he could talk to the other man, but he saw him getting of the manta angry and walking fast to General Ironwood’s office. He would find him tomorrow, hopefully by that moment he would have come with a resolution to his situation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you have liked this chapter, I’m trying to take this slow (like yes, they are soulmates but Qrow doesn’t know and Clover is going to fall in love just because of that), and I’m working very hard on keeping Clover as in character as possible (I don’t know if making it right, tho).  
> Any feedback, comments or kudos are highly appreciated I’m trying to make this the best I can.


	4. Bad luck or Good luck?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Qrow confronts Ironwood and meet Robyn in a unexpected situation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really don’t know if I’m updating this fast or slow. But I hope you like this chapter (that took me forever to write because even if school is over finals ended me)
> 
> If you spot any mistakes, please let me know so I can correct them! It’s 1 a.m. and I probably shouldn’t be writing anything.

#  _Bad luck or Good luck?_

Qrow was angry, more like furious really. When Clover mentioned his team, he had lost control and fell, then he had almost got the Ace Op killed when his semblance started to affect everything around him. He felt awful, that was the reason he worked alone, it was safer for everyone else to be away from him. When Clover had told him about his semblance, he was shocked, but quickly started to put the pieces together, Ironwood had planned it all, he knew how much Qrow struggled with his semblance, how much disgrace it had brought upon strangers and love ones and still he had assigned him a partner, someone with the opposite power. He stormed into the General’s office.

“What is wrong with you!?” He screamed. The office was surprisingly empty.  
“What are you talking about?” Asked the General.  
“Did you wanted to see if I would bring misfortune to your lucky boy?” Qrow spitted. Ironwood’s face morphed with understanding. The huntsman felt the rage boil inside him, the General wasn’t denying anything.  
“Well… Did it?” It was unbelievable, the anger he was expressing didn’t seem to be important to James, he kept his calm demeanor.   
“Yes, it did! Your precious Ace Ops almost dies today” Qrow simply couldn’t grasp the idea of James endangering a member of his own elite team for the sake of an experiment.  
“I don’t think you are giving Clover enough credit; he is professional huntsman and one of the best in Atlas, he knows how to take care of himself. I wouldn’t have paired you if I didn’t think it would be a good match” Ironwood stood from his chair and approached the angry man.  
“So, your whole speech about trust and no more secrets meant nothing?” Accused him.   
“If I have told you, would you have accepted?” Replied Ironwood.   
“I guess we will never know, right?” Said the huntsman while leaving the office.

Qrow actually knew the answer for the General’s question, it would obviously be no, he wouldn’t have accepted, he had almost got his own niece killed not long time ago, how could he try to work with someone else after that? He felt sick and angry he started to feel how his semblance was slipping out of his control, he ran to the first empty place he found and transform. 

One of the many advantages of being able to be an actual crow was that he could run away from is problems really quickly, soon enough he was far away from Atlas, and his lack of control couldn’t hurt anyone but himself, which probably was the reason he got hit by an arrow and black out.

Qrow woke up inside a building he didn’t recognize, a woman with light blonde hair and purple eyes was staring at him.   
“Oh good, you are not dead” Said the woman relieved. 

Qrow looked at her and noticed the fan crossbows that was in her arms and figure out she must have been the one that shot him, but knowing his semblance she had probably been pointing to something else, not him. Only there he realized she wasn’t some crazy person that talked to birds. She was talking to him, human him. He panicked. What was he going to do if she had seen him transform?

“Quick question” She said suddenly “How do you do it?”  
“Do what?” He asked annoyed, his head hurt but so far, he didn’t feel threatened by the stranger.  
“Shapeshifting into a crow” She answered and he groaned as his fears were confirmed, not only his bad luck had caused him to be shot at it had also make him reveal his secret to a random person. Great.  
“I can’t do that” He tried. He saw the forearm of the woman turn red; he hadn’t even realized she was holding his hand.  
“Whatever you say man” She released him “Who are you?”  
“Shouldn’t I be the one asking you that?” He countered.   
“I’m Robyn, you probably had heard of me already”  
“Yeah, I have” He remembered the dude that was in the same convoy as them when they got arrested, he had talked about her and her happy huntresses. 

Qrow looked through the window and realized that he was in Mantle, that had been a very long fall, he wondered exactly at what point had he transformed back into his human form, how many people had sen him? And worst, how was he supposed to get back to Atlas now? He could call James, but he was still mad at him… maybe he could try fly all the way up, but he knew there was no way he could make it in that way.

“So… future councilwoman, how does someone can get to Atlas?” Qrow stood up, he was less busied that he expected.   
“The fastest way is by getting arrested” She told him with a deadpanned expression.  
“Well as you might have noticed I kind of need to get back unnoticed… maybe you could help this lost bird?” He was trying to be charming, he even winked, but by the unimpressed look that Robyn sent his way he had absolutely failed.   
“One of my happy huntresses might be able to get you up there without much trouble, but I want something in return” Said Robyn. _It’s always a deal with politicians, wasn’t it?_ Qrow thought.   
“You already know my secret, best blackmailing token, what else could you possibly want?” He asked.  
“Information. I saw your scroll, it’s state-of-the-art technology, only Atlas’s elite has access to it” She answered. Qrow cursed internally, she was tremendous to the point that calling Ironwood was started to sound like a better idea.  
“I can’t say that I’m loyal to Atlas, but I can’t tell you anything” He started to move, he needed to get back to the flying city.  
“Do you believe in what Ironwood is doing?” Robyn asked him.  
“He has a plan that my niece believes could work” Qrow noticed the shocked expression the huntress made when he mentioned Ruby.   
“Alright. May, help him get back to Altas, would you?”  
Qrow stared at the woman with vibrant blue hair that suddenly appeared in the room.   
“Try to make the General see the situation in Mantle, please” Was Robyn departure words.

He hoped Robyn win in the upcoming elections. Atlas and Mantle needed someone like her. When he stepped out of May’s invisible field, he was astonished by how easy someone with her abilities could infiltrate Atlas, he thought of telling James about it, but he didn’t want to expose the huntress semblance, he didn’t know how much information about Robyn’s group the General had. 

He walked around the city, he had to get back to the Acadamy at some point but he didn’t feel like doing it soon, he sent a message to Ruby telling her where he was, he didn’t want her to believe he had got drunk and lost again, he was trying really hard to stop drinking and he was miraculously succeeding. He wondered if he should ask her how was she feeling with her soulmate coming back to live but he decided that such question probably should be made in person.

Atlas was against everything a beautiful city, the part were people lived normally, it was full of green areas and colorful buildings, he was wandering around when he saw a white outfit that stood out, without a second thought he approached the leader of the Ace Ops. 

“What brings you around Mr. Ebi?” He joked. The Ace Op smiled.  
“I was actually sent by your niece, Ruby, to found you” He answered.  
“Something happened?” Qrow replied immediately dropping the mockful stan, already thinking about the worst possible scenarios.   
“No, she just wanted to show you something about the new Crescent Rose?” Clover said as if he wasn’t sure about the name of Ruby’s weapon.  
“She loves that weapon; I’m actually impressed she let Pietro put his hands on it” Qrow said smiling at the found memory of Ruby in signal making her scythe.  
“She is a nice kid, they all are”   
“Yeah, they are” 

They walked in amicably silence for a while, Qrow kept thinking about how much all the kids he knew had changed in the last two years, he would have liked that those changed had occurred by different circumstances and not because all the violence and deaths they had experience. He felt his mood turn bitter, he would have given anything to return the innocence in their eyes, the care free joy. 

“I heard you had a fight with General Ironwood” Clover said suddenly, breaking Qrow’s course of thinking.   
“Yeah. Aren’t you mad with him too?” Qrow hadn’t consider what Clover had thought about the intentional pairing that James had done.  
“I trust General Ironwood with my life” Said the Ace Op with an automatic response.  
“You can trust someone and still be mad at them” Qrow reasoned. Clover looked at the other huntsman as if he hadn’t expected him to say something like that.   
“Okay I give you that, I did feel a little bit used” Clover raised his hand as if he was admitting defeat. Qrow laughed.  
“What’s James going to say? I’m corrupting his team” He joked and Clover chuckled.   
“But I actually think we could work really well together. What do you say? Care to try to have partner in the field again?” 

Clover sounded serious and Qrow just stared at him, thinking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The idea of including Robyn in this chapter came to me spontaneously, that’s why I decided to arranger their meeting in a surprising way (I hope).  
> As always, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and didn’t felt it to random, I swear this strange meeting will have value in future chapters.  
> Kudos and comments are sooooo appreciated, they keep me motivated to continue writing this!


	5. Not your soulmate.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clover searches for Qrow and gets an answer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry about the delay! I had a lot of trouble writing this chapter, I startert it like three or four time. I just hope you like how it ended. (I'm not sure if I'm convinced of how it ended I pray it isn't too OoC)

#  _Not your soulmate_

The thing with soulmates was that it was really obvious when someone meet them, it was like there was some sort of connection, the end of the waiting, there was something special about knowing the person whose name was imprinted on your wrist since the age of thirteen. Clover remembered when Vine and Elm meet each other in the Ace Ops, they become extremely close and everyone figured out really quickly that they were soulmates, even if they weren’t the romantic type there was something about the way they exist around each other that stood out. That’s why Clover wasn’t surprised at all when he entered the Ace Ops headquarters and all of his teammates were staring at him.

“What?” He asked.  
“In today’s fight it appeared that you and huntsman Qrow were really getting along” said Vine.  
“I felt so stupid, I kept wondering what had happening in the ride back. Because it was so unlike you Boss, you always kept your semblance so controlled, like I admire that, but you suddenly lost control? That couldn’t be happening. At first, I thought you were injured, since you kind of show of in the fight, but you wouldn’t kept that from us, would you? So, I kept thinking but it wasn’t until Vine pointed out that I realized. Qrow is your soulmate! Right?” Marrow babbled. 

Clover felt taken aback by Marrow’s conclusion. Was he really that obvious? He groaned and admitted defeat, there was no point lying anyway, they all seemed to agreed with Marrow’s conclusion. 

“He is” He confirmed.  
“Oh! Then congrat-” Marrow started to say, but Clover interrupted.  
“But I’m not his, so I would really appreciate it if you didn’t say anything to anyone”

After that statement the debrief of the mission went almost as usual, if Marrow kept sad eyes, Vine sent looked pity looks his way, Elm kept looking sorry and Harriet seemed to be about to murder certain huntsman, no one needed to know.   
Clover went to the training rooms; he wasn’t sure if he wanted to train to avoid thinking about his situation or if he wanted to find the person that had been on his mind constantly. He found the teenagers training, they were showing each other the upgrades in their weapons, and appeared to be having a good time. He couldn’t fully understand how they could look so carefree with the dangers they had faced and the ones they knew would come, but he was glad they could find sometime to spend with their friends. 

“So… Clover, right?” Called him suddenly a blonde girl behind him, she was hand in hand with a black haired faunus, if he remembered right…  
“Yes, that’s me. And you are… Yang and Blake?” The girls nodded and didn’t move “Is there something you needed?”  
“My uncle seemed really piss off when we returned and he stormed into Ironwood’s office, and since you were the one with him the whole time, we were wondering if you know what upset him”  
“No, I’m sorry but I don’t know. Why don’t you ask him?” 

To Clover, Qrow didn’t appear to be the kind of adult children were afraid to ask, he had watched only a couple of interaction between them but it had been enough to rise curiosity about why Qrow’s niece wouldn’t ask her uncle directly.

“That was actually something we also wanted to ask you” Blake started “Qrow disappeared after his discussion with Ironwood, no one knows where he is”

Clover started to look for his soulmate, he promised Yang and Blake that he would look around, he tried to aske them if they know some place he could have possibly went, but they didn’t want to share their thoughts for some reason. He checked all Atlas compound, he knew that Qrow have been in Atlas before, so maybe he was visiting some place he remembered.   
While he was searching he kept thinking about the whole soulmate situation, it seemed that now that it was out in the open he couldn’t get rid of the feeling that he would have to do something about it, he could just play along and hoped to be good friends with Qrow, but there was another part of him that wanted to tell him directly, said out loud “You are my soulmate”, but he was afraid of Qrow’s reaction, he was just beginning to know the man and he didn’t wanted to scare him with a situation this complicated.

Suddenly, a rustle of red petals appeared in front of him. 

“Hi!” Exclaimed Ruby “My sister told me that you were looking for my uncle! He just texted me, but I don’t know where this is and Weiss is with her sister and Penny is somewhere in Mantle. Can you find him please?” He looked at the girl and noticed she was nervous, but he decided not to comment about it “When you found him, tell him that I want to show him something about Crescent Rose or he will worry!” Ruby shouted.   
Clover was surprised how far Qrow was and more surprisingly, how far was he willing to go just for him, he could have called someone on the frontier of Atlas and instructed them to bring the huntsman back to the facilities, but instead he chose to walk all the way over there. He kept wondering what was he going to say to the other man once he found him. But all his plans crashed when Qrow was the one to found him.  
It surprised him the reason why Qrow got angry with Ironwood. He admitted it hadn’t felt exactly right to be pared just because of his semblance, but then he saw an opportunity, it was clear that his soulmate struggled with a lot of things, but maybe he didn’t have to be alone. It felt like forever until Qrow shook his hand with small smile. 

The next day Clover woke up early as always, he decided to train a little since yesterday he had to use his semblance to secure the hook in that grimm. He had been training for a couple of hours when he noticed a dark figure watching him, he didn’t pay Qrow a lot of mind and focused on finishing his simulation. Once he defeated all the holographic enemies, he heard his soulmate’s voice.

“You know, I’ve seen a lot of weapons and you wouldn’t believe what some kids in Signal attempt to make, but I have never seen a fishing rod” Qrow commented and Clover laughed.  
“Kingfisher is just what I need”   
“But seriously, your team has these boomerang stuff and exoskeleton arms or something and you just use that?”  
“Don’t underestimate it” Just for show, Clover sent the hook to grasp Qrow’s cape, and then pulled until it was above its owner, blocking his view.  
“Point taken” Qrow said, raising his hands in defeat.  
“It also remains me of home”   
“Home? Isn’t Atlas your home?”  
“Yes and no, I’m from a little town outside here, there is this pond were my family and I used to go fishing, but I spent most of my life here in Atlas so I think here is also my home”  
“I’m not sure if I still have someplace to call home” Qrow mumbled and sat, Clover followed his example and sat right beside him.  
“No one is waiting for you somewhere?”   
“The only people that care about me are here, well and maybe Tai.”  
“Tai?”  
“Ruby and Yang’s father. He was also my teammate in our academy days, but we didn’t get along back then.” Qrow stared at nothing and Clover just looked at him, his soulmate was sad and he couldn’t think of something to say, what can he possibly say? Ironically Qrow save him of his predicament. “There is also my sister, but I don’t know what to think about her now, the last time we saw each other didn’t end well”   
“What about your soulmate?” Clover asked suddenly, he wasn’t sure what got into him to drop the question like that in the middle of that moment. Qrow let out a dark laugh, full of deprecation.  
“Let’s just say they are better without me”

Clover felt like something inside him broke, he had known all this time that he wasn’t Qrow’s soulmate but hearing it that directly hurt, it made it real. He wasn’t the soulmate of his soulmate.

“Well, that was way too emotional for me. What do you say if we train, partner?” Qrow asked, standing up.  
Clover managed to recover in record time, he even smiled at the other huntsman before accepting the help to stand up.  
“I think we should spar first, you have already seen my moves, but I haven’t seen yours yet”  
“Prepare to be impressed Lucky Charm, you are about to lose” Qrow said with a lopsided smile and a wink. 

Clover laughed sincerely, maybe he could get used to the whole not being his soulmate’s soulmate thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think it ended kind of sad, but I swear this will get... worse.   
> But then it'll get better I promise.

**Author's Note:**

> I put "Penny Polendina" in a binari language convertor and I got these: 01010000 01100101 01101110 01101110 01111001 00100000 01010000 01101111 01101100 01100101 01101110 01100100 01101001 01101110 01100001 so imagine Ruby's wrist with all these  
> Anyway I hope you like this first chapter and I might upload next one soon if school allows me.  
> Kudos and comments are really appreciated.


End file.
